Numerical simulation of sloshing in rectangular tank with VOF based on unstructured grids

Abstract

A new method for sloshing simulation in a sway tank is present, in which the two phase interface is treated as a physical discontinuity, which can be captured by a well-designed high order scheme. Based on Normalized Variable Diagram (NVD), a high order discretization scheme with unstructured grids is realized, together with a numerical method for free surface flow with a fixed grid. This method is implemented in an in-house code General Transport Equation Analyzer (GTEA) which is an unstructured grids finite volume solver. The present method is first validated by available analytical solutions. A simulation for a 2-D rectangular tank at different excitation frequencies of the sway is carried out. A comparison with experimental data in literature and results obtained by commercial software CFX shows that the sloshing load on the monitor points agrees well with the experimental data, with the same grids, and the present method gives better results on the secondary peak. It is shown that the present method can simulate the free surface overturning and breakup phenomena.